The Central Bureau of Investigation has witnessed may controversies lately.
The relatives of a CBI official have been accused of attacking a team from the investigation agency that visited his home today to probe bribery allegations against him in connection with alleged land scams in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.
The CBI has lodged a case with the state police in the wake of the assault, which resulted in the hospitalisation of five officials.
On February 2, the central probe agency had registered a case against two of its own officials - including Assistant Sub-Inspector Sunil Dutt from the CBI Academy at Ghaziabad - on the basis of allegations that they had taken bribes from the accused in land scams related to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority.
"The two CBI officials, in a conspiracy with unknown police officers in the Uttar Pradesh government, tried to influence the probe in an attempt to obtain undue relief for the accused in the land scam cases in lieu of illegal gratification," the First Information Report (FIR) in the case stated.
Things came to a head today, when a CBI team comprising an inspector, a sub-inspector, two constables and a woman constable, went to Mr Dutt's residence at Sonpura in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddhnagar to serve him a notice. "However, upon reaching his home, the team was attacked by members of the Dutt's extended family," an official said.
According to a statement from the probe agency, the five officials were held hostage and assaulted while Mr Dutt sneaked out through a back door. "They also burnt the mobile phone, diary and identity cards of some team members," it said.
Soon, a local police team reached the spot and took the CBI officials to a nearby hospital. Sources said police have launched an investigation on the basis of a complaint from the central probe agency.